Feb. 24, 2022
Good morning. Sarah Palin says she’ll push for a new trial on her defamation claim against the New York Times, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn admitted to making an "inexcusable" error in the trial of the former investment banking head of Goldman Sachs in Malaysia. Plus: At least five major law firms rushed to match the new salary scale established this week by Davis Polk, and the Biden Justice Department is ending the Trump-era “China Initiative” that fueled accusations of racial profiling. It's Thursday already. Let's go!
Our colleague Karen Sloan, who reports on law firms, law schools and the business of law, is cowriting The Daily Docket while Diana Novak Jones is on parental leave. Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan has given Sarah Palin until March 15 to formally ask for a new trial on her defamation claim against the New York Times. Palin revealed at an unusual hearing on Wednesday that she also will seek to disqualify Rakoff, a veteran of the trial court.
Jurors last week rejected Palin's claim that the Times defamed her in a June 2017 editorial incorrectly linking her rhetoric to a mass shooting years earlier. While jurors were weighing the evidence, Rakoff announced his plan to dismiss the complaint for failing to meet the high legal standard for defamation. Jurors later told the court they saw notifications on their phones about Rakoff’s view but said his statement did not sway deliberations.
Rakoff said he will issue a written opinion by March 1 explaining why he dismissed Palin’s defamation case against the Times while jurors were deliberating, Jonathan Stempel reports. The judge said he will fast-track his opinion because of the "fracas" surrounding the dismissal.
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REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn admitted to making an “inexcusable” error in the trial of Roger Ng, the former Goldman Sachs banker accused of helping loot Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. The government said a team of lawyers had failed to turn over some 15,500 documents to Ng’s defense and to the trial prosecutors. The material related to Tim Leissner, Ng's former boss, a star witness for the government, our colleague Luc Cohen reports.
U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn called the late disclosure of evidence "troubling," noting that she had previously asked prosecutors to make sure all disclosures were made. Brodie paused the trial to allow Ng’s defense to review the newly disclosed evidence. "The government absolutely, absolutely, and admittedly at this point did not live up to its obligations," Marc Agnifilo, a defense attorney for Ng, told Brodie. “Evidence is coming in drips and drabs.”
Ng was Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and to violate an anti-bribery law. Prosecutors say Ng received millions of dollars in kickbacks for helping embezzle funds from 1MDB. Leissner pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018 but has not been sentenced.
Industry buzz
Number of the day: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts That’s the number of Republican state attorneys general who have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow them to defend an immigration rule crafted by former President Donald Trump's administration to bar permanent residency for immigrants deemed likely to need government benefits. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich represented the group Wednesday during oral arguments at the high court. President Joe Biden's administration dropped the government's defense of the policy, prompting the action by the states. They claim they should be able to defend Trump's rule, which has been estimated to save all states about $1 billion annually. Read more about the case.
Columnist spotlight: Multiplan SPAC's bid to kill shareholder suit? Blame Muddy Waters What do you do when you’re a SPAC insider facing shareholder claims that you neglected to warn investors that the company you planned to acquire was facing the imminent loss of its biggest customer? If you’re the SPAC that acquired health care cost management firm Multiplan for $11 billion in 2020, you say Multiplan was never actually in danger of losing the business and blame the short seller Muddy Waters for convincing the market otherwise. Alison Frankel has the details of what she calls “the boldest possible play” to change the momentum in this landmark SPAC litigation. Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu.
"By picking one country, what the China initiative did, it created in some ways a bit of a myopic approach which I don't think really reflects the nature of the threat landscape."
—Matt Olsen, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division, on the end of the “China Initiative.” The program, started in 2018 by the Trump administration, focused on fighting Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft. But critics said it amounted to racial profiling and created a culture of fear that has chilled scientific research. At least 20 academic researchers have faced charges as part of the China Initiative. Read more about the end of the program.
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In the courts
Industry moves
Client demands are shaping the future of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at law firms, writes Brian Seaman of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young. Increasingly, clients are setting direct and specific targets and goals. Seaman says clients are shifting from an effort-based system to an outcome-based system. Read more about how clients are making themselves part of the discussion.
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